When you lose someone you love, you gain an angel that you know.

“If it had been anywhere else in the library, things might have turned out different. However, lamenting about what could have been won’t bring Chase back home to his family for Thanksgiving,” says Officer Simmons on the scene of the tragedy.

Things were quiet late Friday afternoon in the reading room on the second floor of the Harold B. Lee Library- some might say too quiet. Chase Stoops had just sat down at a table to finally get started on his religion paper. Doing what any of us would do, Chase got out his laptop and opened Spotify, hoping to enhance his writing session with his highly curated study playlist. What he didn’t know is that he wouldn’t get that far.

Due to a flurry of unexplained events that detectives and eyewitnesses are still trying to understand, “Toxic” by Britney Spears began blaring from Chase’s laptop at no less than full volume. The evidence suggests that the song only played for about three seconds, but one second was all it took to turn every head in the room.

Did he think his airpods were connected?

Did he accidentally hit the space bar?

What prompted his song choice?

These questions comprise most of the investigative work that is currently being done on this case. What we do know can be summed up in a statement from Dr. Morguen, BYU’s resident pathologist assigned to conduct autopsies on cases like this.

“As Chase scrambled to stop the song from playing, his body went into a state of shock that shut down his internal organs and left his lifeless body draped over his computer.”

While Chase’s death has undoubtedly introduced a heavy feeling of remorse on campus, some say that after such an accidental act of social suicide, Chase’s life was virtually over anyway. Perhaps it is better this way.

Chase is survived by his roommate Sam that he never talks to, his ex-girlfriend Jennifer, and four beautiful pet hamsters that he hides under his bed during cleaning checks.